Nanotechnology has been applied to many aspects of human life. Meanwhile, concerns regarding the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials to the environment have also been growing. Herein, an economic and convenient approach based on quantitative structure–activity relationship for nanomaterials (nano-QSAR) was proposed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) to E. coli. Six molecular descriptors of 17 MONPs were selected and calculated using Gaussian98 software and DFT-B3LYP method on the LANL2DZ basis set. Two multivariable models, linear and nonlinear, were built based on the calculated molecular descriptors using multiple linear regression (MLR) and support vector machine (SVM) methods, respectively. Results demonstrated that both models presented high reliability, good predictive performance, and fine generalization ability, with all R2 values greater than 0.84. It was also revealed that the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and molar heat capacity (Cp) were the two key descriptors influencing the cytotoxicity of MONPs.

Outbreak updates are an integral part of crisis communication during epidemics. Regarding the COVID-19 crisis communication, localities in China present different strategies for managing outbreak updates, which largely determine the effect of crisis communication and the evolution of social psychology. Depending on the analysis of the update texts from 31 provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) health committees in China, the study found the differences among the provincial outbreak updates and summarizes 12 innovative crisis communication ways. A coupling analysis was applied using the equilibrium-cognitive-psychosocial transition model to further expound on the psychological connotation and intervention potential of the crisis communication innovations. Coupling crisis communication with interventions has a positive effect on designing crisis communication strategies by taking into account psychological factors. It can help construct and optimize the public crisis communication systems and emphasize “care” in modernizing the emergency management capacity.

Benzoxazole derivative K313 has previously been reported to possess anti-inflammatory effects in lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW264.7 macrophages. To date, there have been no related reports on the anticancer effects of K313. In this study, we found that K313 reduced the viability of human B-cell leukemia (Nalm-6) and lymphoma (Daudi) cells in a dose-dependent manner without affecting healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and induced moderate cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. Meanwhile, K313 mediated cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by the activation of caspase-9, caspase-3, and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP). Furthermore, cells treated with K313 showed a significant decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), which may have been caused by the caspase-8-mediated cleavage of Bid, as detected by Western blot analysis. We also found that K313 led to the downregulation of p-p70S6K protein, which plays an important role in cell survival and cell cycle progression. In addition, treatment of these cells with K313 blocked autophagic flux, as reflected in the accumulation of LC3-II and p62 protein levels in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In conclusion, K313 decreases cell viability without affecting normal healthy PBMCs, induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, reduces p-p70S6K protein levels, and mediates strong autophagy inhibition. Therefore, K313 and its derivatives could be developed as potential anticancer drugs or autophagy blockers in the future.